DETROIT -- By the time next March rolls around, it’s possible that no one will remember or care whether Daz Cameron hit .300 or .150 in the final games of the season.
Maybe everyone will have forgotten whether Isaac Paredes kept drawing walks at an impressive clip or watched his on-base percentage plummet.
Two weeks will not make or break their futures in the big leagues or with the Detroit Tigers. Manager A.J. Hinch has made that abundantly clear.
But young players -- even promising prospects -- don’t get unlimited opportunities. And in the final days of the regular season, Cameron and Paredes are going to get something that has eluded them for much of the year: Regular playing time.
Cameron, a 24-year-old outfielder, and Paredes, a 22-year-old infielder, made their Major League debuts in 2020 and have hit well in Toledo in 2021.
But they’ve logged fewer than 150 combined plate appearances in the big leagues, thanks to ill-timed injuries and other players emerging.
They were recalled from Triple-A Toledo four days ago when left-handed pitcher Gregory Soto and outfielder Derek Hill went on the injured list. Hinch said he doesn’t want them to try to do too much in the limited time that remains in the season.
“I just want them to play,” he said. “When I put them in there, give me what you’ve got. When you’re not (in the lineup), support your guys and be on the team.
“Sure, they want to make an impression and we want them to play well. But hopefully they don’t put so much emphasis on these last 12-13 days that they vapor lock and try to do too much.”
Cameron, who went 3-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday, is off to a good start.
“Obviously you want to finish strong. You keep that mindset until he end of the year,” Cameron said. “But I’m not trying to over-do anything or put super-high expectations on myself....There are things that I can take into the offseason, but at this time, today, I want to talk about winning games.”
While Paredes was considered a candidate to make the Opening Day roster, Cameron spent the spring recovering from an elbow injury he suffered over the winter and didn’t make a serious push for a roster spot.
Cameron was called up on June 10 (after Derek Hill was injured running into the outfield wall) and did well initially, including a four-game stretch in which he went 7-for-15 with two home runs. But then the hits started to dry up. He had a 2-for-22 stretch in which he struck out eight times and suffered a toe injury while tracking balls in the outfield prior to a game.
He returned to the club for a brief stint in August and didn’t hit much, but he still probably could have survived had his return not coincided with a strong month of hitting by Victor Reyes.
Reyes got to keep his job; Cameron was sent back down.
Cameron said there’s no reason to play the what-if game. Injuries happen in baseball.
“There are some things you can’t control,” he said. “Those injuries might happen but the main thing is how you respond. Can you keep the mentality of, ‘How can I get better?’ I think if you have a positive mindset, good things will happen.”
Paredes followed a similar path to Cameron’s, making his 2021 debut just a couple days earlier, on June 8, when Jeimer Candelario was placed on the bereavement list.
While Candelario was out, Paredes played some third base but also got his first shot at shortstop. Although he went just 3-for-21, he did have a triple, a home run and one near-walk-off home run in a game the Tigers ultimately lost in 11 innings.
Paredes didn’t look totally lost at shortstop, but he seemed more comfortable at second and third. When Niko Goodrum went on the injured list, the Tigers decided to take a longer look at Zack Short, a natural shortstop.
Short’s rise sent Paredes back down to Toledo.
But the real missed opportunity of 2021 came just after the All-Star break. The Tigers made two key moves, demoting second baseman Willi Castro and releasing veteran outfielder Nomar Mazara. They called up Paredes and Derek Hill. It seemed like this could be Paredes’ chance.
Instead, after just three games, including an impressive 3-for-3 performance on July 19, Paredes was placed on the IL with a right hip strain.
Just like that, Willi Castro was back. Paredes spent time in Lakeland rehabbing an injury that proved to be peskier than expected. When healthy, he was optioned back to Toledo, where he put up even more impressive numbers than usual (He hit .293 with a 1.014 OPS in 102 plate appearances. He had 26 walks and just 13 strikeouts).
It seemed like the Tigers had forgotten about him. But he said he wasn’t downcast during his time in Toledo.
“I didn’t look at it that way,” he said in Spanish. “It wasn’t a disappointment. It was a chance to learn, to work hard and get better.”
Now he’s back in the big leagues, and likely to get most of his at-bats at second base over final days of the season.
Paredes is known for putting up eye-popping numbers in winter ball in his native Mexico as a prelude to spring training, but he said it’s still undecided how much he’ll play -- or if he’ll play there at all -- this winter.
So the next two weeks might be his last audition until the Tigers regroup next February in Lakeland.
Both Paredes and Cameron will be competing for a spot. That won’t change no matter how well they do in the last games.
“We’re not going to make any conclusions anytime soon,” Hinch said. “They are a part of what we’re building.”
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